Lately Anouk has been really interested in family relationships, how we are connected to all of the people in our family. "What is a cousin?" she'll say, or else, "Tell me again how I'm related to Aunt Bonne/Aunt Judy/Uncle Mike?" And so we set off untangling the thread of our family in a way that an almost-four-year-old can understand.

We got My Family Tree and Me at just the right time because it does a lot of this explaining in a really simple way. I love the author's whimsical drawings of both sides of his family (one European, one Japanese) and showing how they came together in him. One side of the book shows the members of his father's family -- and then, when you start from the back and move toward the middle, the book shows the story of his mother's family. The middle is a family portrait, with every member clearly labeled.
 

Anouk loves this book so much that it makes me wish I had the drawing skills to put together one for our own German/Dutch/English/Irish/Lebanese clan! Although honestly, I'm not sure that the page would be big enough to fit so many people...

Note: I was sent a review copy of this book by the publisher. The opinions in this post are all mine. 

Every Halloween, my Girl Scout troop would go to the graveyard (right next to our camp! which made for some pretty interesting camping trips) and make gravestone rubbings. It might seem like a weirdly morbid thing to do with a lot of little kids, because of the inevitable conversations that will come up about death and all that. But surprisingly, all of my memories of the activity are happy ones. So much so that as a grown-up, I've kept up the practice. Whenever I visit the grave of a far-flung ancestor or when I'm on vacation and visiting a churchyard, I make sure to pack some paper and crayons in my bag to bring back a truly one-of-a-kind souvenir. It could be because I'm a history and genealogy buff. It could be that I'm overly sentimental. It could be because I'm a little weird. I don't know. I do know that grave rubbing is a great activity for little hands: it doesn't require much finesse, the results are always striking, and it offers a great excuse to acquaint little ones with family lore.

This past weekend I visited the family plot at St. Mary's and made a rubbing of a stone of a relative who died as a child. I've always had a soft spot for her, partly because nobody alive really remembers who she belonged to, and partly because she shares my name. On my last trip to the cemetery, I'd noticed that her grave was getting a little faded and worn, and I wanted to find a way to preserve it before it faded too much. Especially the beautiful Arabic writing at the bottom!

Some tips for making a grave rubbing of your own:

• Use medium weight paper: too thin will tear, too thick won't leave a good impression. I use an 18x24" sketchpad, with 50 lb. paper density.
• Bring a roll of painter's tape -- it's the best for securing the paper to the stone (Scotch tape is too flimsy and duct tape can leave a nasty residue). 
• A lot of people like to use pastels, but I think they're really messy and prefer to use a thick "My first crayon"-style black Crayola (don't go too cheap with the brand of crayon you use -- sometimes they don't cover very well). The thin crayons work well for touch ups after you've brought your rubbing home. 
• St. Paul's and Calvary Cemetery have some of the most interesting and historical gravestones in the area, but they're pretty old and can be covered in dirt and moss. An old toothbrush helps to loosen the grime so you can get a clearer rubbing.